Page 124 of Pure Silence

Standing on the other side with wide eyes and weapon drawn was Detective Alvarez.

“Detective?” Goldie sputtered.

“You two?” Alvarez spat. “Really?” He sighed, returning his gun to its holster and then pinching the bridge of his nose. “Oh, this should be good. Okay. Go ahead. Please explain to me why there are at least half a dozen dead men scattered all over this house? At least three were shot, one wascrushed, another was beaten with some kind of damn hammer, and oh! Let’s not forget there’s a rotten corpse that looks like it’s been dead for a million years and is missing a fucking arm?”

“An arm?” Goldie glanced at Day.

Day made a stabbing motion with his hand and pointed at the body behind Alvarez.

Goldie then realized what he’d seen Day stab that man with was not a piece of wood.

“Well?” Alvarez prompted.

“So, uh.” Goldie cleared his throat. “How much time do you have exactly?”

22

GOLDIE

They told Detective Alvarez the truth.

Well, more or less.

Day took responsibility for the money and explained he’d donated it without Goldie’s knowledge. Evan at the rescue was so flustered over meeting the great wrestler Goldilocks that he’d said the money came from him and not Day because it made for such a good story to tell people that a famous athlete had made such a kind donation.

The rest of their story was more in line with the truth—getting attacked at the apartment, being brought here to Day’s house, and having their lives threatened by Lionel and his goons over the money. They left out the part about Day making up with his dead father and simply said Day managed to get out of the ropes and fought back.

Alvarez had a hard time believing that Day was solely responsible for the carnage that left seven men dead, and he was particularly distressed about the corpse.

Day explained that his father’s final wish was to stay at home after he passed, and they hadn’t had the money for funeral services anyway, so letting him stay in bed where he’d died seemed like the best plan.

Alvarez did not agree.

Emergency services came to provide first aid and clothing, and Goldie had never been so happy to see a pair of yellow hospital socks with the little grippy bits on the bottom. Goldie was uninjured, and Day had refused treatment, though he also took a pair of socks and a set of scrubs since their clothing now had to be taken as evidence.

Day was not happy about losing the Goldilocks shirt, and Goldie promised to get him another.

They spent what felt like hours sitting in the back of Alvarez’s car in their matching scrubs and socks while forensics and the medical examiner’s team cleared out the bodies from the house, including Day’s father. Day was upset to see him moved, and Goldie did his best to comfort him. Though Alvarez was clearly not a fan of either of them, he did reassure Day that he would be able to make the decision for his father’s final disposition.

He also cleared up a few lingering questions, like how he’d ended up at Day’s house when he did.

There was a critical cellular network error that disrupted cell phone service in the city for twenty-seven minutes. Those vital minutes spurred Lionel to return early and in force when he wasn’t able to get a hold of Jack or Lin. Goldie assumed Lionel had tried calling them for some reason before he’d reached the gym. That explained why he showed up with as many men as he did.

Alvarez received Goldie’s texts that morning about the men in the parking lot, and he’d thought one of them could be Jack Willoughby, a recent parolee and known associate of Michael Parker’s. On a hunch, he had decided to visit Jack.

Jack lived with his mother, whose home just happened to be two houses down from Day’s.

The neighbors had heard the gunfire, but they weren’t able to get through to emergency services because of the cell phone service being out. When they finally did and the call to law enforcement to respond went out, Detective Alvarez was the first one on scene because he was already in the neighborhood, having just arrived at Jack’s mother’s house.

Goldie’s mind was boggled as the many pieces of the puzzle clicked into place, and he was left with more questions of his own.

Did this mean that Day was actually blessed by God with some Old Testament-type mission to dispatch sinners to hell?

Or was he still just that damn lucky?

Day had dozed off with his hands over his ears, burying his face in Goldie’s lap while they waited for Alvarez to finish up. They’d already given statements, gone through their stories multiple times, and Goldie was hoping they could go home soon. He was worried that they might be charged with something, though he didn’t have any idea what.

Murder? Accessory to murder?